People and Nature Before Profits!
We're a working collective of socialists, communists, and independent leftists in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Yes, it is bread we fight for -- but we fight for roses, too!

February 2, 2013

Action to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline!

From the Communist Party:

On Sunday, February 17th, many thousands will join together to demand that the Keystone XL Pipeline project be stopped. Sponsored by Bill McKibben’s 350.org, the Sierra Club, and the Hip Hop Caucus, the demonstration will gather at Noon on the National Mall in Washington DC.

We urge all our members and friends from the Midwest and the East Coast to join in making this the largest U.S. demonstration for action ever on climate change.

Everyone can sign and share the petition to stop the XL Pipeline here.

Millions of Americans have already been impacted by global warming—most recently by the massive damage done by Hurricane Sandy. The rally will demand action from President Obama and Congress on climate change. Obama has already identified climate change as one of the top priorities for his second term, and the Senate is scheduled to address climate change legislation this spring.

The State Department has the final say because the pipeline would cross our border with Canada. The newly confirmed Secretary of State, John Kerry, has been a prime mover in previous attempts to get the Senate to act on climate change legislation.

The Keystone Pipeline project is the current major battle being waged nationwide by environmental groups. This pipeline, which would go from Canada to the Gulf, would carry oil made from the tar sands of Alberta, one of the most environmentally destructive ways to produce oil and when burned to create harmful greenhouse gases.

Shipping this dirty oil across environmentally sensitive land in the Midwest would threaten the Oglalla Aquifer—which tens of millions of people in the Midwest and Southwest depend on for fresh water and irrigation. The oil would be shipped overseas, so it would not affect the price of oil in the U.S., it would not help us become energy independent, and it would create much more carbon dioxide emissions, adding to our already massive problems with global climate change.

The future health of humanity depends on our taking action to radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We are already seeing the effects of climate change—Hurricane Sandy, massive drought across much of the U.S., hellish wildfires in Australia, and increasing desertification in many parts of the world. These and other impacts will only get worse unless we stop increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Stopping the Keystone XL Pipeline is just the next step in a long struggle. It is important that the Communist Party and its supporters and allies join this struggle, demanding not only action on climate change but also:

*jobs programs to create millions of new jobs to tap alternative energy,
*increase energy conservation,
*retrofit housing and commercial building to make them more energy efficient, and to build modern fast railroad lines.

This program would create many more jobs than the few thousand jobs that the supporters of the pipeline falsely claim this destructive project would create.